Five Girls on Wine Looking for the Answer …

This entry goes back to Saturday the 22nd.I dropped my mom off at the Burbank airport – giving her and us a break from living together – she goes off to my sister’s in Alameda and we go on vacation to Carlsbad.After the airport, I drove over to the Krispy Kreme donut shop in Burbank to get a dozen for the boys (my excuse).As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed the blood drive truck.It was kinda hard to miss – a large trailer with big Providence Holy Cross graphics on the outside, a canopy, and chairs lined up.

As I got the donuts and my coffee (wow, they sell Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf now!), and I felt a twinge of guilt for even being at the donut place, what with this food plan I am following and all, I had the thought:

“Hey!Maybe this is the reason I am really here – I’m on vacation and have time – I can donate blood today!”

So I did.I had not done it for at least 4 years, and out of the 4 or 5 times I have, I have nearly fainted twice afterwards.This is not because I think its icky, or that the idea makes me faint.In fact, the first time it happened, I was totally shocked.I think it is just some bodily thing that happens if I get up too fast, after losing a pint of blood. It does come out of me pretty fast (a fact that makes me never want to be bleeding after a car crash or anything).Anyhow – they made me drink some juice and eat a donut first (smile), and lay there for a bit afterwards, and I had no dizziness at all.Ironically, for doing my healthy duty, I got coupons for a free pint of Baskin Robbins ice cream, and for a free dozen Krispy Kreme donuts (too bad I already bought one).Too bad they can’t reward us with a Whole Foods certificate, or some other healthy thing instead of sugary treats.

Another interesting experiencewas when I was filling out the pre-donation questionnaire.This thing is pretty extensive these days – no donations if you have obvious things like AIDS or have been exposed, but also not if you have visited certain countries recently (Malaria risk), or if you lived in England during certain years (Mad Cow exposure).As I sat there, a tall, well-built, young guy came over and sat down next to me.He took one look at the questionnaire and, with a concerned look in his eyes, asked me “How much blood is a pint?”As I explained how much I thought it was, he looked even more squeamish, and finally said “I don’t think I can do this!”It didn’t matter that I told him it really isn’t so bad.The big tough guy wasn’t going for it, and was out of there as fast as he could move.The cute little nurse wasn’t able to make him come back either – he was genuinely spooked about it.Made me smile.

All in all, it was easy, only took about 30 minutes for everything, and made me feel good.I think you should consider doing it if you can. That way, you can deserve a medal, too. It was a great way to officially start off my vacation.

My brother called this morning to tell me that my Dad’s surgery went good – uh – WTH? I didn’t even know he was having surgery. :: blank stare ::

He’s had this thing in his hands. Apparently it’s like an extra tendon that grows a little like ivy does. It starts to attach itself to the existing tendons and then brings everything in nice and tight. For years we’ve given Dad shit because when he closed his hands, his middle finger still stood at attention – essentially flipping the bird to all in his view.

So now that the tendon with it’s own mind is moving to his thumb, the doctors have told him that if he doesn’t do something about it soon, his hands will both be balled up into fists. Nice!

He had the surgery done yesterday and this morning he was back at work. You see, my family doesn’t relax or rest very well. It’s just not in our genes apparently. The doctor called him at home to check on him and my step mom said he was in bed (lie lie lie). They said, well we just wanted to remind him that he shouldn’t be driving and he should have that arm elevated for the next 48 hours. Nice … he’s out driving around to job sites – haha. He said he can’t just sit there and do nothing. Which is true … he can’t. He’s never been able to. He told me, “I’m just driving around town, I’m wearing a seat belt and I’ve got an airbag.” :: rolling eyes :: … it’ll never be any different … that’s who he is.

When I mentioned before that I had a hard time just “being”… well … I guess there is no doubt where I get it from. Nobody in my family can just “be”.

Well, I got a friendly nudge from one of my friends and revered colleagues that I hadn’t posted in awhile…I feel kinda like Kristy did a few posts back about NOT HAVING ANYTHING TO POST AT ALL.

Not true…I just didn’t have anything very nice to say.

Not about anybody in particular…just having one of those days/weeks/months ****insert time frame here****

Not quite like just PMS either…I mean, I know that feeling…but it’s kinda like when Audrey Hepburn asks George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany’s if he’d ever experienced the “Mean Reds” – being afraid but not knowing what you’re afraid of exactly.

The battle to beat the Mean Reds has happened most every morning this past week – ick. I open my eyes…thank my lucky stars to be alive and then the doubt creeps into my mind like little green men from outer space. I shake it off – say my intentions…and JUMP out of my bed as if it is possessed with all the ickyness…And go about my day.

I woke up yesterday and KNEW that I absolutely, positively HAD to do Bikram Yoga…I texted my best friend Sean Niles – who, being a musician, sometimes keeps late nights…GET YOUR ARSE OUT OF BED. LET’S DO BIKRAM YOGA. I tried to wait until at least 11:00 am to send it…but all day I knew I had to get into that studio…he agreed for us to get together and go to the 8:15 PM class in downtown L.A. (THANK YOU SEAN NILES)

Anyhow, on the way to yoga – I was stressed out, tired…argued with a friend on the phone to the point of tears…showed up downtown, where we walked over to the Disney Concert Hall from the Rosslyn Hotel (a good jaunt…) and walked into my inner sanctum called Bikram…

Now, for those of you who don’t know what Bikram Yoga is – check it out online …. www.bikramyoga.com For those of you who’ve heard of it but not partaken…you have no idea.
This is one of the most awesome practices that I have ever found…it works for me.

90 minutes in 110° heat in a small room, practicing 26 asanas including pranayama breathing…very cleansing and really f$*%&ing hard, if I might add.

I have been practicing Bikram for about 5 years, off and on…and every time is a spiritual and physical awakening for me. Last night being no different…as I flowed from one pose to the next, I became extremely emotional…some of the series of poses (the balancing poses – Tuladandasana, Dandayamana, Bibhaktapada & Paschimottanasana) which I normally do very well at…I could barely keep myself together…I actually laid down in Savasana (DEAD BODY POSE) for most of this series…tears streaming down my hot face.

As you go through the asanas, your teacher will tell you what parts of the body that the poses are affecting…and there are some poses that specifically work on areas that may cause you to become emotional which is normal. All 26 poses created emotion to almost brainsplitting pain (emotional, not physical) so needless to say that at the end of my 90 minutes…I felt as if I expelled a lot of REALLY negative energy and was able to regroup my mind a bit…I laid in the dark room for a few minutes at the end and set my intentions to be good to myself…

As Sean and I walked through downtown L.A., carrying our yoga mats – we talked and enjoyed one another’s company as only he and I can do after nearly 20 years…no pretense, no bullshit, no expectations…We dined on tabboloueh, veggie burgers, and Morningstar nuggets…and basked in the afterglow of yoga!

I guess good friends, good food and good yoga can cure the Mean Reds…very cool

My big sister is here visiting from northern California. She is this fabulously creative, supportive, nurturing, giving and incredible woman (who by the way, doesn’t see any of that in herself, sheesh, maybe we set the bar too high for ourselves??) and I love her unique perspective on the little things in this world. The following conversation took place while we all sat at the dinner table watching a recording of the Discovery Channel show about the Endeavor Space Shuttle launch, which my three year old is completely fascinated with. Yeah, he’s smarter than me, so what?

After watching all the astronauts get suited up and hearing a little personal history, including the list of degrees each of them have, my sister turned to me & the hub unit and said:

Sis: ‘Jeez, these are really smart guys. It makes you wonder if these are the kind of people we SHOULD be sending into space. I mean, what if something happens again, like it did with Columbia? All that knowledge and experience would be lost.’

A moment of silence.

Hub: ‘Weeeell, if not these really smart guys, who should we be sending up?’

Me: ‘PERHAPS we should send up some guy named Earl. After all, the inside of the space shuttle probably doesn’t look all that dissimilar to the inside of a double wide. Actually, if you could just make the controls look like a TV remote, we might have a shot . . . ‘

Let’s take a vote. Really smart astronaut guys or Earl??

Just a glimpse into the profound thinktank that is my house, where we delve into the pressing problems of the day and come up with viable solutions.

So I didn’t try the meat/sleeping pill combo suggested in the last comment thread, but we did decide to try something different … maybe a lil kinder and gentler ;-).

We created the “Stop Barking Solution” made with tobasco, water and some other hot sauce and put it in a spray bottle. We decided to only squirt them a little bit when they stand up and look OVER our wall (their heads and shoulders visible) and bark at the same time. That way they will learn that we aren’t happy to see them and that their behavior is not rewarded. Ron did this years ago with a neighbor dog that he had a problem with and it worked wonderful. He said that the dog would get a lil of that hot sauce in his mouth/nose and it would sting just enough to make him retreat and eventually, he could go into his own backyard and the dog didn’t even care. Perfect! A solution that will help train them without hurting them.

So today was the first time I tried it. Oreo (the black dog) was hopping up and down like he was on a pogo stick when I let our dogs out. I said no to Bella (our black dog) and got her to steer clear from the wall and I told the neighbor dogs who were pogo-ing at our fence a very stern “no”. THEY did not listen and continued to bark. So I got the spray bottle and squirted them in the mouth a couple times. Brown lab didn’t stick his head up again … might be a quick learner after all? (Probably not … he is after all a brown lab.) Oreo just kept jumping and barking – a proverbial puppy pogo – imagine me … at the fair playing that squirt gun clown game and you’ve got a pretty good picture of how it went. I squirted him a couple more times and he flinched a little bit but kept on. Our dogs were done, so I brought them inside and then the barking was quiet for a bit. Ron said it’ll take a bit to work, so I will keep on with it to try to train them.

They still barked throughout the day (as usual) but we have to take it one step at a time and teaching them to not bark when we are out there with our dogs is priority one.

I’ve filed a couple complaints against them already and we’ve tried to ask them to not allow them to bark non-stop, we’ve turned the hose on them and still … the owners don’t care to shout at the very least, “no bark”? I think my next thing is to type up directions on how to file a complaint online and to deliver them to every house that’s in our area. I’m SURE I’m not the only one who would love for it to stop.

If I ran the zoo, I’d request a new neighbor who knew how to work with their dog(s).